Tensioning system for retractable screens and shades

ABSTRACT

A tensioning apparatus and method for retractable screens and shades that includes a tensioning member disposed upon the end of a screen or shade. The tensioning member frictionally engages a sidewall within a guide rail, thereby tensioning a screen or shade in place against the wind or other force.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to improved apparatus for keeping retractable able screens and shades in place, and, more particularly, to apparatus that involve tensioning the end of a screen or shade within a guide rail.

2. Description of the Related Art

Movable shades or screens have been provided for building window openings which, when in their extended position, provide security for the window opening, and when in their retracted position, provide passage of light, air, and the like, through the window opening. Additionally, movable security panels have been provided for door assemblies, show windows, and the like, in various retail merchandising stores where it is desirable to provide protection for the contents.

Typical retractable privacy shade assemblies of the prior art are shown in FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 1 illustrates a retractable shade 10 that includes a horizontally disposed housing 12 which includes end walls 14 of conventional construction for receiving a conventional roller shade between a pair of guide rails 16 and an actuating mechanism in which the shade 18 is constructed of a plurality of slats hingedly interconnected in any suitable manner. The roller shade in and of itself including the guide rails 16 are conventional in construction as is the reel mechanism and actuating mechanism (in housing 12; not shown) for the shade so that when the shade 18 is retracted, it will be substantially completely received in the housing 12 and when it is completely extended (i.e., at the end of its downward movement), it will form a privacy barrier and/or security closure.

In FIG. 2, an exploded view of a retractable screen 20 (which may be, for example, a mesh material or flexible shade screen) is shown. Within housing 22 are axle 24 (upon which screen 26 rolls to wind and unwind), crown 28, drive 30, motor 32, and axle bearing insert 34. Brackets 36 act as end caps for the actuating motor/crown/drive/bearing insert assembly, and a pair of parallel guide rails provide a slot 39 within which bottom 40 of shade 26 is guided in upward and downward motion. Bottom 40 typically is a bar that contains end caps 42.

For all of the comfort and convenience offered by retractable screens and shades, many have suffered from the drawback of rattling, “banging,” or other distracting movement and noise during periods of wind.

To address this issue, independent tensioning systems designed for use in retractable screens and shades (also known as rolling screens or shades) have been developed. All of the retractable screens or shades of which the inventors are aware contain tensioning components within the slot 39 of guide rail 38. Thus, as shown in magnified view in FIG. 3, a locking clip 44 can lock or tension the screen 46 in a particular location.

By disposing a lock, clip or other structure on or in the guide rail, the positions at which the screen may be tensioned necessarily are limited to the location of the clip or other tensioning structure in the space provided by the slot of the guide rail. In other words, only select positions will have a clip at which the screen can interface and be tensioned in place.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method and an apparatus that tensions screens and shades in place at substantially any location along the guide rail to keep it from rattling in the guide rail at any height desired by a user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally involves a tensioning method and apparatus for retractable shades or screens. More particularly, embodiments of the invention include a tensioning mechanism attached to the end of a shade or screen. The tensioning mechanism resides within a guide rail and frictionally engages the sidewall of the guide rail during any retraction movement other than that occurring upon reaching the bottom of the shade's or screen's downward movement.

In one embodiment, the tensioning mechanism or member comprises a pivot arm. The pivot arm frictionally engages the sidewall such that the screen or shade is tensioned in place only during a retracting motion occurring prior to reaching a bottom of its downward motion.

Thus, there is provided new and improved methods and apparatus for tensioning a retractable shade or screen.

Various other purposes and advantages of the invention will become clear from its description in the specification that follows. Therefore, to the accomplishment of the objectives described above, this invention includes the features hereinafter fully described in the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, and particularly pointed out in the claims. However, such description discloses only some of the various ways in which the invention may be practiced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a retractable shade of the prior art.

FIG. 2 is an exploded diagram of a retractable screen of the prior art.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view as seen from the perspective of arrow 3 of a clip lock system found in a rail of the prior art retractable screen of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the invention featuring a pivot arm mechanism disposed on a retractable screen or shade end.

FIG. 5A schematically illustrates how the embodiment of FIG. 4 functions as the retractable screen or shade travels downwardly from its housing.

FIG. 5B schematically illustrates how the embodiment of FIG. 4 functions as the retractable screen or shade travels upwardly to its housing after being “reset” at the bottom of its path down.

FIG. 5C schematically illustrates how the embodiment of FIG. 4 functions as the retractable screen or shade is retracted upwardly with the arm is set in its “downward movement position” to tension the screen in place at a desired location.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention involve a tensioning mechanism disposed upon the end of a screen or shade that travels within a pair of guide rails. When the screen or shade end (e.g., the bottom bar) is moving down, the tensioning member slides freely within the guide rail. Conversely, when the screen or shade is retracted or reversed (i.e., moving upwardly towards the housing of the rolling axle), the tensioning member mechanically applies force to the sidewalls of at least one rail to frictionally bind and stop the rolling shade or screen in place. This allows the screen or shade to be stopped at any point along the guide rail and thereby apply tension to minimize rattling by the shade or screen.

To retract completely, the screen or shade is lowered to the bottom, where the tensioning member is reset, allowing the screen or shade to retract freely to the top without binding. Once completely retracted to the top, the tensioning member again will reset and enable the product to travel in the downward direction.

Turning to a first embodiment of the invention that would be suitable for the rolling screen shown in FIG. 2 (and referring by numeric reference to the elements depicted therein), a pivot arm mechanism disposed on a retractable screen or shade end is illustrated in FIG. 4.

A tensioning member 50 is attached via fasteners 51 to the end member, bar 40, of the screen 26 where end caps 42 are located. Thus, tensioning member 50 would be positioned in a guide rail 38 (e.g., within slot 39) of an assembled rolling shade. The tensioning member 50 of this embodiment comprises a pivot arm 52 coupled to a spring 54 that is attached to the face of the tensioning member 50 with fasteners 56. Serrations 58, or other suitable gripping surfaces or materials (e.g., rubber), may be disposed upon opposing sides of the tensioning member as illustrated.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, each end of the bar 40 (i.e., where each end cap 42 is located) includes a tensioning member 50 such that each of the pair of guide rails 38 will be engaged as described in more below.

FIG. 5A schematically illustrates how the embodiment of FIG. 4 functions as the bar 40 of the retractable screen or shade 26 travels downwardly (M1) from its housing 22 (see FIG. 2). The pivot arm 52 of tensioning member 50 is in a first position (P1) corresponding to movement Ml that slidably engages a first sidewall 60 of guide rail 38. The second side wall 64 is not frictionally engaged. Thus, the screen 26 continues traveling downwardly until stopped at a desired location.

Conversely, FIG. 5B schematically illustrates how the embodiment of FIG. 4 functions as the retractable screen or shade travels upwardly (M2) to its housing 22 after being “reset” at the bottom of its path down. The pivot arm 52 of tensioning member 50 is in a second position (P2) corresponding to movement M2 that slidably engages a first sidewall 60 of guide rail 38. Again, the second side wall 64 is not frictionally engaged. Thus, the bar 40 of screen 26 continues traveling upwardly until stopped at a desired location.

FIG. 5C schematically illustrates how the embodiment of FIG. 4 functions as the retractable screen or shade is reversed in direction. In this case, the bar 40 is traveling in the M1 direction so that arm 52 is in the P1 position. When the bar 40 is then retracted upwardly (R1), arm 52 pivots and acts on spring 56 to urge the tensioning member 50 to engage second sidewall 64. Thus, both sidewalls 60 and 64 are engaged, resulting in tension that keeps the screen in place at a desired location. Simply reversing the direction of the bar 40 (in this case, resuming movement in the M1 direction) results in the arm returning to the P1 position and disengages the tensioning member 50 from the sidewalls of guide rail 38.

Thus, it will be appreciated that tensioning member 50 operates to frictionally engage at substantially any point a sidewall within said a guide rail.

As further illustrated in FIG. 5C, guide rail 38 includes a reset notch 68 located proximal to a bottom 70 of the guide rail. If tensioning member 50 is installed on both ends of bar 40, than both the guide rails 38 will have a reset notch. When the arm 52 in the P1 position reaches the notch 68 after traveling in the MI direction, a third position (P3) is attained (see FIG. 4). Upon reversal of direction (e.g., traveling in the M2 direction), the arm 52 is now in the P2 position. It will be appreciated that a reset notch or similar means for allowing the arm 52 to “reset” will also be located at the top of guide rail 38.

In view of the apparatus described above, a method of tensioning a retractable screen or shade is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes (1) providing a retractable screen or shade having an end member disposed within a pair of guide rails, wherein a tensioning member is attached to the end member (e.g., a bar) of the screen or shade such that the tensioning member is positioned within at least one of said guide rails, and wherein the tensioning member operates to frictionally engage at substantially any point a sidewall within the guide rail, (2) moving the screen or shade in a first direction; and; (3) reversing the direction of the screen or shade, thereby actuating frictional engagement of the sidewalls within the guide rail by the tensioning member.

The tensioning member is reset to travel freely in the opposite direction by first moving the screen or shade to a top or bottom end within the guide rail.

The tensioning apparatus and method can tension the material on a variety of shade or screen systems controlled manually or electrically. The system controls only need to stop under tension and be able to move downwardly to release the tension. This operation can be used with crank gears, motorized systems and hand pull systems.

Various changes in the details and components that have been described may be made by those skilled in the art within the principles and scope of the invention herein described in the specification and defined in the appended claims. Therefore, while the present invention has been shown and described herein in what is believed to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is recognized that departures can be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent processes and products. All references cited in this application are hereby incorporated by reference herein. 

1. An apparatus for tensioning in place a retractable screen or shade having an end member disposed within a pair of guide rails, comprising a tensioning member attached to said end member of the screen or shade such that the tensioning member is positioned within at least one of said guide rails, wherein said tensioning member operates to frictionally engage at substantially any point a sidewall within said at least one of the guide rails.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said tensioning member comprises a pivot arm coupled with a spring such that reversing movement of the screen or shade while the pivot arm is in a first position causes the tensioning member to frictionally engage opposing sidewalls within said at least one guide rail.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said tensioning member disengages said opposing sidewalls upon resumption of a movement opposite to that of the reversing movement.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said end member comprises a bar with end caps, wherein said tensioning member is attached to at least one end cap.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one of the guide rails includes a reset notch located proximal to a bottom of said at least one of the guide rails.
 6. In an improved retractable shade or screen system having a rolling screen or shade guided by a pair of parallel guide rails, the improvement comprising: a tensioning member attached at an end of said rolling screen or shade, wherein said tensioning member operates to frictionally engage a sidewall within at least one of said pair of guide rails at substantially any point along said parallel guide rails.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said tensioning member comprises a pivot arm coupled with a spring such that reversing movement of the screen or shade while the pivot arm is in a first position causes the tensioning member to frictionally engage opposing sidewalls within at least one of said pair of guide rails.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said tensioning member disengages said opposing sidewalls upon resumption of a movement opposite to that of the reversing movement.
 9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said end member comprises a bar with end caps and said tensioning member is attached to at least one end cap.
 10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said end member comprises a bar with end caps and said tensioning member is attached to both of said end caps.
 11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein at least one of the guide rails includes a reset notch located proximal to a bottom of said at least one of the guide rails.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein both of the guide rails include a reset notch located proximal to a bottom of each guide rail.
 13. A method of tensioning a retractable screen or shade, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a retractable screen or shade having an end member disposed within a pair of guide rails, wherein a tensioning member is attached to the end member of the screen or shade such that the tensioning member is positioned within at least one of said guide rails, and wherein said tensioning member operates to frictionally engage at substantially any point sidewalls within said at least one of the guide rails; (b) moving the screen or shade in a first direction; and (c) reversing the first direction of the screen or shade, thereby actuating frictional engagement of said sidewalls by said tensioning member.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising resetting the tensioning member by moving the screen or shade to a top or bottom end within said at least one of the guide rails.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein step (a) comprises providing a pivot arm coupled with a spring such that said reversing causes the tensioning member to frictionally engage opposing sidewalls within said at least one of the guide rails. 